The Chips are Down
by coldfiredragon
Summary: Set during Calling All Titans and Titans Together. When the Brotherhood of Evil attacks, Robin must come to terms with the fact that he put the Titans in danger while, at the same time, worrying over Speedy's fate. RobSpeedy slash, very mild


**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans or any part of the characters that the show is based on. **

**AN: This is set directly into the script of the two fifth season episodes "Calling All Titans" and "Titans Together". It focuses exclusivly on Robin and Speedy and does relies heavily on a romantic connection between the two. Much of the dialogue is taken directly from the two episodes. The taken dialogue is in _italics_. The focus of this fic is comes at the very end of "Calling All Titans" when Robin finds out that Speedy has been attacked. The focus then shifts to the beginning of "Titans Together" when Robin watches Speedy be frozen in ice.**

**Summary:Robin and Speedy have been involved in a romantic relationship and when the Brotherhood of Evil launches their coordinated attack against the Titans Robin must juggle his worry for Speedy versus his worry for the team. He also must come to grips with the fact that he is the one who put his team in danger and the consequences of those actions.**

**Please review, I love reviews. If the response is positve I'll write a companion piece showingroughly the same span of time from Speedy's POV. Enjoy.

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Robin fought the panic that was building in the pit of his stomach as more and more trouble alerts began to appear on his screen. It couldn't be happening, but it was. Somehow the Brotherhood had managed to launch a highly coordinated attack that had caught all of them off guard and Robin had no idea how they had done it. He had no idea how they had been able to call every move the Titans had made and been ready for them. 

He had been giving orders since the attacks started but no matter what he did they were one step ahead of him and the alerts kept pouring in.

_"Tramm! Help Aqualad!"_

No matter what he did and who he sent where the Brain was out playing him, soon everyone would be engaged in one battle or another and there was nothing he could do. He looked over the map to see a sea of flashing red dots as his mind frantically calculated which of his friends was where. In the back of his mind he was relieved, one dot hadn't started flashing yet and he prayed that it wouldn't.

Speedy ran through the forest, doing his best to watch out for obstacles in his path while at the same time trying to keep an eye on whoever was stalking him from the trees above. Realizing that running wasn't going to do him any good he stopped in a small clearing and pulled back the arrow he had notched in the bow. He trained the bow towards the trees as he looked for his opponent. There.

He let the arrow fly just as the woman in her kimono and mask launched herself out of the tree towards him. He knew that if he got too close to the woman's claws that she could do some serious damage. Whomever she was she was too fast and agile for him though. He released a barrage of arrows hoping that she would move wrong and that one of them would hit. He had no such luck as she merely swiped them out of the air with her claws. In desperation he grabbed an explosive tipped arrow from his quiver and notched it. The head immediately began glowing a bright red color. He let it fly and watched in dismay as his opponent merely danced out of the way.

Speedy uttered a soft curse as he grabbed another arrow, noting that he only had a few left. Despite that he kept firing. He had to take her down. Suddenly she darted in and swiped at him. Speedy attempted to block with the bow and felt panic grip him as the woman's claws tore right through the wood. He dropped the useless weapon as the woman attacked him again. Roy backed up to avoid the full force of the woman's next blow and to his dismay found himself backed up against a tree.

Realizing he had no other choice he reached down and grabbed his communicator from his belt. He had barely pressed the button when the device was kicked from his hand and the last thing he saw was his opponent's grinning mask as the woman used her hair to knock him out.

Robin felt his heart sink as yet another warning light flashed to life on his console. The one he had been hoping not to see. The logical part of his brain immediately took over even as his emotions battled for control. He also knew that when he managed to find his voice it held a desperate edge to it.

_"Pantha, you're closest to Speedy!"_ He tried to keep the barely concealed panic from his voice as his brain registered that Speedy's communicator was on but he was getting no word from the archer. "Go to sector eleven!" He allowed himself a minute of desperation as he waited for her reply.

/Please be okay Roy, please, I can't loose you, not now./ Pantha's voice finally came back over the communicator and Robin's heart sank.

_"I can't."_ /No/ In that instant half of Robin's mind shut down, it was as through a wall had slammed down around his emotions. He was going to personally kill Brain and anyone, friend or foe, that tried to stop him. If it had been anyone else besides Speedy he would have been okay. He could still hear the occasional word or shout from most of the others but he was getting nothing from his best friend, his best friend who he had recently started a very hushed relationship with.

It had worked out well so far. Neither of their teams had any clue that the two of them were an item. Whenever they had wanted to see each other it was a simple excuse. For Robin it had been "something came up in Gotham" and he would be heading east for a day. With Roy it had always been "Green Arrow needs me." and he would be heading west to Star City.

They would always meet up in someplace in the middle like Central City and would spend the night fooling around or just lying in each others arms with no concerns other than the idea that room service might walk in unexpectedly when morning rolled around. They even shut down their communicators. Their trips to see each other were the only times that they left their guard down enough to actually take off the masks and be Roy Harper and Dick Grayson for an evening.

This was not the time to be thinking about his relationship. Titans all over the world were in trouble and he knew that one by one they were being taken down by the Brotherhood's strike. In desperation he began calling names, hoping against hope that at least one of them would respond to his call. He had no such luck.

_"Anyone!"_ He sent out a general call and when he received no answer he dropped his head to his hands. How had he let this happen? How were they able to know what their movements were? It shouldn't have been possible. Even as he sat here doing nothing the alarms continued to sound. He looked up only to have his eyes fall on that one particular light and in that instant he considered slamming his fist into the console just to silence the noise it was making. He had failed as a leader, he had failed everyone, he had failed Speedy.

A noise from within the boulders that surrounded him pulled him from his self-pity. He glanced over, ready to move and fight for his life if he had to but was instantly relieved to see Hot Spot coming out into the open. Instantly Robin was moving towards the other boy's side.

_"Hot Spot. Am I glad to see you! When I didn't hear from you, I thought you had been ambushed too. I don't know how they're doing this. It's like the Brotherhood knows every move we are making."_ The other boy's reply stunned him.

_"They do."_ The words had barely registered when Madame Rouge's elastic fist knocked him back. Robin reacted on instinct as he tried to make the connection of how exactly the Brotherhood knew everything they did. When he managed to bury the woman under a pile of rock he prepared to send out a distress call of his own, not that it would do any good he silently told himself.

_"Your communicator is of no use."_ Robin spun back to see the woman oozing her way from between the boulders and his mind desperately tries to comprehend why the still functional signal device would be of no use.

_"Communicator?"_ Suddenly it all clicked, they had been listening in through the communicator frequency. Then another thought occurred to him, one that sent ice water pouring through his veins and actually caused him to stumble.

_"It's my fault, I'm the one who got us in trouble."_ Speedy, it was all his fault that Speedy was in danger, that all his friends were in danger. His fault that Speedy might be dead. No he was not going to think about that. Speedy was resourceful, heroes like the two of them had to be when they lacked powers like everyone else did.

"_Game over."_

_"Not yet. I can still warn the others."_ He still had one chance. It was his best chance and he kicked himself for not having thought of it earlier. He grabbed a freeze disk and a birdarang and launched them both at Rouge. Much to his pleasure the freeze disk exploded when it was hit and he took the opportunity to smash the iced villain.

_"Calling all Titans! The Brotherhood of Evil has been listening. I'm breaking off all further communication.!"_ With that he cracked open the signal device and set out the code which would trigger the communicators self destruct sequences. "Take care of yourselves you know what to do." He might have said more but Rouge had reformed and was wrapping herself around his body. His last action was to press the detonator. /Speedy forgive me. I had no idea this would happen./ was his last thought as he succumbed to unconsciousness.

He awoke to find himself in a cell in what he assumed was the Brotherhood of Evil's lair. He tried to move his arms but whatever material they were using to hold him wouldn't give and he finally leaned his head against the wall. He could feel tears forming behind his mask but he wouldn't let them fall. They were not going to see him cry.

It was all his fault. He had been so set on making sure the everyone could reach them in an emergency that he had led the emergency straight to them. He had almost single handedly signed their death warrants. He had signed Speedy's death warrant when he gave him that communicator after the World's Strongest Hero tournament. If he had known what the future held he never would have done so.

Suddenly the door to his cell swung open and Madame Rouge entered. Robin surged to his feet despite his bonds and glared at the smirking woman.

"Your friends have been defeated, you have been defeated and very soon the Titans will be no more."

"You underestimate us Rouge. Good always wins over evil." Her smirk widened.

"I will let you discuss that with the Brain my dear boy." With that her arm stretched to grab him and she began dragging him out of the cell. Robin for his part was not going without a fight. His struggles made no difference as he was taken into the control center of the Brotherhood's lair and forced to his knees. When he finally looked up his eyes immediately fell upon the raised platform which held the frozen forms of Wildebeest and Hot Spot.

This caused him to increase his attempts to get free even more.

_"The Brotherhood of Evil will be defeated."_

_"No Robin. It is you who have been defeated. I have captured the king. Your pawns cannot save you."_

Robin's head snapped to the side as Brain spoke only to see one of Immortus' robots enter carrying Speedy and Menos. At the sight of the archer Robin felt the racing of his heartbeat and he had to bite down hard on the inside of his cheek to keep from screaming his lover's codename as the other boy's body was thrown to the floor. He knew that if he did he would be signing an instant death warrant for the archer. The Brain was perfectly capable of putting two and two together and if Robin called out to the other boy it would act as an indication that Speedy meant something more to him than Menos, Aqualad, or Argent, all of whom had just been dumped likes sacks of grain in a pile before him.

Despite resisting the urge to call out to his best friend he could not resist the need to make sure that the other boy was alive. For a few precious heartbeats nothing could break through the fog of his mind as he waited to see if the other boy was alive or dead. Instant relief flooded through his system as he saw the archer draw a shallow breath and his mind snapped back into some degree of functioning just in time to hear the Brain speak again.

_"You have lost."_ Robin would have responded but there was no point. He had no idea what had happened to everyone else. He didn't know if enough of the Titans remained free to even mount a successful counter attack. The sound of the Brain's voice pulled him out of his thought once again.

"Take the rest of them away. Madame Rouge, make sure that Robin is properly bound so he cannot escape."

"As you wish." Robin could feel the coils of Madame Rouge's body wrapping themselves around him but his gave was fixated on Speedy. He couldn't help but wonder if this would be the last time he saw the archer alive.

Rouge returned him to the cell he had been in earlier and switched his bindings for a pair of cuffs which completely covered his hands as well as most of his lower arms. There was no way he could move them as she left him alone. She came back several hours later and returned him to the control room. This time he was forced to stand on a platform overlooking the room. He could see that the frozen forms of Hot Spot and Wildebeest has been moved into the room and he assumed that the technology which surrounded them had been used to freeze them.

The sound of Brain's mechanical voice box speaking from behind him caused him to turn and stare a the mastermind behind his team's destruction and the giant gorilla that acted as his first in command.

_"Patiently we watched you all... waiting for our moment to strike. You forged your alliance. You trusted without cause. And, finally when you thought your world was safe... it fell apart before your very eyes. You are merely pawns in a game-- and you played your part perfectly. There is nowhere you can hide, and there is nothing you can do to stop us. Each victory brings us closer to an even greater prize. The elimination of an entire generation of heroes."_ The mechanical voice stopped for a moment and Robin felt chills run down his spine. "_And I owe it all to you, Robin."_

The sudden sound of machinery coming to life caused Robin's gaze to snap back to the floor. The conveyor belt was moving and he could see Professor Chang standing at the control box of an ominous looking machine. The belt continued to move forward and a slender glass tube moved into view.

Robin could not help but breathe in sharply as he saw who was being held in the tube. It didn't matter that Speedy was conscious and alive at the moment because of the imminent danger that his lover was in. The movement of the belt stopped and Robin could see that Speedy was starting to panic. He had no idea what was going to happen to him and Robin could only stand by and watch while his emotions for the archer tore him to pieces.

He could see Speedy looking around and when he looked up Robin's masked eyes were there to meet his. The archer pressed his hands against the walls of his glass prison as he stared up at Robin and Robin suddenly wanted to rip his mask off so Roy could see the pain that was evident in his eyes. He needed his best friend to know just how much being forced to watch this was killing him on the inside. He knew that blowing his identity would get them no where and no matter how much he wanted to he resisted the urge. Roy knew how he felt though because right as the conveyor belt started moving again he saw Speedy mouth something and even though the glass chamber had been sound proofed Batman had still taught him to read lips.

"I love you Dick." The words caused something to snap. Robin no longer cared about what happened to himself as he dove towards the Brain. He didn't even get close as Mallah moved to intercept him. The gorilla easily pinned him and dragged him back to his feet.

"What do you hope to accomplish by attacking me Robin? It will not save your lover from his fate." Robin's eyes widened and his mouth was suddenly dry. No one had known, not the Titans, not the Titans East. If the Brain knew about their relationship did that mean he knew their civilian identities as well?

"Did you think it was coincidence that his fate would be the first that you saw sealed? Did you think I did not know about your relationship? Did you forget so soon that I have had a Titans communicator for months and have tracked your every move as I prepared to make my own?" If a brain in a jar could smile Robin was sure that the Brain would be more than enjoying the look of pain that crossed his face as he spoke.

"I planned it all and you played your part perfectly. You practically handed me every single Titan on a silver platter. I should thank you, Robin. You will spend the rest of your conscious life knowing that you not only gave me every single Titan but that you got to watch each of them be frozen as well, starting with your lover." With that Mallah spun Robin back towards the freezing machine and Robin could only watch in horror as the tube carrying Speedy slid into place. He could see the panic in the other boy's face and the scream of protest that rose in his throat was cut short as the machine activated.

Robin felt tears well to his eyes as the icy vapor cleared and he got his first view of the Archer's body. Speedy's arms had reached up to protect his face and his eyes were dilated in fear. The sight was too much and he slumped against Mallah's grasp. He couldn't save him, it was all his fault. Behind him he could hear the Brain's mechanical voice.

"You see Robin, you have lost. There is no point in fighting any longer." For the first time the words made sense. The Titans had lost and he was the reason for their downfall. He glanced back down at Speedy's frozen form and back at the conveyor belt as the next Titan was brought forward to join Speedy, Hot Spot and Wildebeest in their icy prison.

He had failed but there still had to be some hope... some Titans somewhere had to have escaped capture and they would come for them. Even if they did come though, would it really make any difference? What if the freezing process was irreversible? Would it matter if they came to save a team of ice statues? Someone had to have escaped, and their had to be a way to reverse the freezing process. There just had to be because in the end all he had to hold onto was that slim hope and right now hope was all he had.

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**I hope everyone was able to follow the line of this story. Do you guys want to see another fic from Speedy's POV? Please let me know in a review.**

TATA for now.

Coldfire out.


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